The five girls were facing three other teens – those they had seen go to Soul Society a few weeks prior. They had introduced themselves as Yasutora Sado, Inoue Orihime, and—to Minako's annoyance—Kurosaki Ichigo. Standing in between the two groups, was Urahara, leaning on his walking cane, fan tapping against his thigh, and a serene smile on his face.
"You want us to fight those wannabe Shinigami?"
"To help them practice their new skills, yes."
"I'm out."
"What, scared?"
Kurosaki turned around slowly, looking at Minako who was smiling sweetly at him.
"You should be scared. You don't want to get hurt playing with swords."
"You are so proud of yourself. Don't wanna remember that I held a sword to your face the second I got it?"
He narrowed his eyes at her.
"I blocked it."
"Hm. Sure. But only because you had your oversized kitchen knife out already."
Usagi leaned towards Rei, whispering:
"Should we do something?"
"I don't think getting in between them is a good idea…"
"Let's just… keep a safe distance while they work out their differences," Makoto added.
As they slowly took a few steps away from the rising tension, Urahara cleared his throat.
"It looks like we already got our first pair."
"Excuse me, what?" Minako interrupted her staring contest with Kurosaki to gape at Urahara.
"You and Ichigo. Now we only need a second volunteer to train with the two?"
He looked expectantly at the other four girls who all took yet another step back shaking their heads. He raised an eyebrow at them and Rei sighed.
"Fine."
She walks up to Minako and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Mina. No killing him."
"She could never."
"I can make no promises, Rei."
Rei pinched the bridge of her nose. Urahara smiled pointing his cane at the far end of the cave.
"How about you three go over there. And Ichigo?"
"What?"
"Don't kill them."
"Fine."
They watched as the trio walked off deeper into the cave until they were out of sight.
"You're just leaving them alone? No directions or exercises or anything? No… supervision?" Makoto frowned.
"I prefer a learning-by-doing approach. Now let's see. Makoto… hm. You go with Sado." He looked between Ami and Usagi before pointing at the latter. "You go with Sado as well. Ami, you practice with Orihime."
They all took a corner, spreading far, while Urahara found himself a viewing spot where he could see all of them. They got into fighting stances. And the training started.
.o0o.
Rei and Minako stood opposite of Kurosaki. The girls already had their blades drawn, knees slightly bent—but nobody made a move.
"You're not gonna draw your Zanpakutō?"
"I won't need it."
The girls exchanged a quick glance from the corner of their eyes and in silent agreement, Rei shot a kidō spell at Kurosaki the same moment Minako sprinted towards him, enjoying the feeling of strength and speed that was so similar to how she felt as Sailor Venus. Kurosaki looked surprised for a split second but easily side stepped both attacks. Minako was fast. But he was faster. She spun around on one foot, sword swinging at him again. He jumped backwards—almost jumping right into Rei's kidō. And again Minako was up in his personal space. Stabbing and slashing. But not landing any hits. She hissed in annoyance. A beam of energy flew past her left ear towards Kurosaki's shoulder. He side stepped again and the same instant, Minako jumped backwards. He eyed her, grinning.
"Not a single scratch."
"Bastard."
She charged again. Kurosaki kept his eyes at her Zanpakutō, evading, side stepping, moving backwards until the blade suddenly dropped out of his view. With a surprised blink he looked down where Minako swept her leg at his feet. He wobbled at the unexpected force. But did not fall. He barely had the time to gain his balance when suddenly Rei was upon him, sword in her left. The split second it took him to adjust his reflexes to the blade being on the wrong side was enough for her to grace him. Not enough to draw blood but enough to slash a small hole into his clothes. Then, Minako was at him again forcing him to step back again and again and again. Yet another kidō spell was shot at him from close distance. With an annoyed growl he jumped up high and above it.
.o0o.
Ami tightened the grip on her Zanpakutō, assessing Inoue's stance. It did not give her much information. The girl had neither Zanpakutō and nor any other visible weapons on her. Ami remained cautious even as the minutes dragged on without either of them moving. In the distance she could hear the sounds of her friends' training.
Inoue shifted into a basic karate stance and with the silvery sound of a bell, her hairpins split into pieces, hovering around her. If only Ami had her Mercury glasses to analyse this.
The first move came from Ami. With a swift step forward, she swung her Zanpakutō in a precise arc. Inoue dodged. They went back to their starting positions. Inoue took a step to the side. Ami mirrored her. After a few steps, she shot a kidō at her opponent. She side stepped yet again and Ami fired a few spells in quick succession, expecting Inoue to dodge again. The other girl, however, avoided the first and threw up a triangular shield blocking the others.
"Interesting," Ami whispered under her breath and lunged at the other girl.
But as she ran towards her, the shield dropped and a small but fast bolt of light shot towards her. Ami spun to her right—and the bolt followed her. She jumped backwards several meters and threw a kidō spell at it. The light curved away from it and flew back to Inoue's side.
.o0o.
Sado looked at the two girls in front of him. He was not exactly good at sensing reiatsu but after the Soul Society incident he was familiar enough with those of Shinigami. And even though these girls looked like Shinigami, their reiatsu felt off. He could not tell if they were dangerous—they certainly looked harmless.
They were staring at him, neither of them making the first move even though one of them held her Zanpakutō in hand. The girl with the hair buns, Tsukino was her name Sado remembered. He looked at the other girl, Kino. Tall. And her posture told him she knew how to throw a punch. She cracked her knuckles and motioned at Sado.
He summoned his power, transforming his arm and the girls went in fighting stance. Tsukino held her blade in front of her and Kino's palm was facing him. He did not move. Kino frowned.
"Bring it on."
"I will only defend."
Kino snorted.
"You don't have to worry about hurting us. We're used to it."
He remained expressionless at that besides a minor raise of his eyebrows. He went into fighting stance as well but still did not attack.
Kino tutted.
"Fine."
She ran towards him aiming a kick at his chest the moment she got close enough. He avoided the blow and pushed her leg to the side. She stumbled but remained on her feet. When she noticed that he did not use this opportunity to counterattack, she frowned again and threw a punch. A game of punching, kicking, and avoiding started. Eventually, she aimed another kick to his chest. He did not move to avoid it, planning on taking it and then using the proximity to throw her off her feet. However, when her foot connected, he stumbled backwards with an quiet oomph. She was strong. And she took advantage of the opening. Drawing her sword, she attacked. He blocked it with is transformed arm, pushing the blade to the side. Kino put some distance between them, breathing heavily. Then she turned towards her friend, one hand on her hips.
"Usagi. Are you planning on joining the training eventually?"
.o0o.
As Ichigo soared through the sky to avoid Hino's kidō, she seized the opportunity to ready a more powerful attack. She chanted. Aino on the other hand, jumped right up after Ichigo. When he landed back on the ground, she came from above, as did her Zanpakutō. He avoided her blade but not the spinning kick she executed right after landing—and where did she learn that? It hit him square in his right shoulder, making him slide a few feet backwards from the force. Expecting her to attack again, he got back in stance. But the attack came from behind. In the form of Hino's spell. Ichigo cursed himself. While he was busy with Aino's attacks, Hino had walked out of his view, chanting quietly. With a grunt he ducked under the spell. And again both girls were at him. Still crouching, he found himself at a disadvantage and rolled to the side. Using the chance, Aino kicked dust into his face. Coughing and rubbing his eyes he jumped back several meters, trying to regain his vision. Dirty move. He felt another spell surge at him, avoiding it easily. When his eyes stopped tearing and the dust had settled he looked at the girls that were standing on each side of him, swords raised. At some unnoticeable, signal both of them moved in tandem, making him groan quietly in frustration. They might not pose any real danger to him but they sure as hell were good at double teaming people.
.o0o.
Worried he might use the chance to attack, Makoto kept a watch on Yasutora from the corner of her eyes while Usagi was still hesitating.
"I thought you wanted to learn?"
Usagi sniffed but raised her Zanpakutō.
"I do," she answered, hands slightly shaking.
Makoto smiled before turning back around to face Yasutora.
"Still planning on only defending?"
He lowered his head in a nod.
Makoto rolled her eyes slightly and pointed her blade at him. She noticed her friend still shaking and whispered:
"You have come out of worse battles."
Usagi met her eyes and taking a deep breath she squared her shoulders. The trembling stopped. Makoto smiled and the two of them moved sideways in opposite directions.
With a swift movement, Usagi lunged at their opponent. He parried without so much as blinking, pushing her away, making her stumble with the force. Taking the opportunity of his distraction, Makoto attacked from the opposite side. But he twisted, blocking her. With a yell, Usagi swung at him once again. And once again he blocked her easily. The three of them broke apart.
Makoto looked at Usagi, nodding her head towards Yasutora. Her eyes went wide and she shook her head slightly earning her an exasperated eyebrow raise.
"Oh for crying out loud, Usagi. This is training. He won't hurt you. Just attack the damn guy."
She took half a step back before shaking her head again and raising her blade. Yasutora's stance barely shifted in response. She walked slowly towards him. But not in a straight line. Ever so slightly she was walking to her left. Away from Makoto. The latter smiled at that. She glanced briefly at the sword in her right. Tightening her grip. Once their training partner's back was fully turned towards her she lunged forward. He spun around, blocking her blade with his transformed arm. Makoto smiled and grabbed his arm with her left, bring him even closer. His eyes widened slightly and she kneed him to his chest. The moment her knee made contact she let go of his arm and he slid backwards, stumbling slightly before gaining his balance again. He steadied himself, narrowed eyes moving between the two girls. Makoto jumped towards him, followed by Usagi. This time, Makoto was sure, they would get him. He can't block two swords with one arm. And he did not. He took Usagi's hit to his shoulder, grabbing Makoto with his untransformed arm and flinging her at her friend. Both girls rolled over the round in a cloud of dust. When they finally untangled themselves, Makoto noticed she had let go of her Zanpakutō. As did Usagi.
"That's enough for today."
They turned around, facing Urahara who smiled at them.
"Next time, don't drop your weapons. They are your closest allies in battle."
Usagi hung her head and Makoto sighed.
"In our defence. This is the first time we had weapons to drop in a fight."
.o0o.
Ami's eyes followed the bolt of light as it returned to Inoue, who still stood in a basic karate stance, hairpins hovering around her.
"Very interesting," Ami muttered, adjusting the grip on her Zanpakutō, once more wishing for her Mercury glasses.
She took a deep breath and focused. The goal is closing the distance between them and neutralizing the hairpins. The hairpins. Once again she shot several kidō spells in a row and as the shield went up she lunged at it. Her blade clashed against the barrier, sparks flying. Ami moved a hand from the handle of her sword, sending a spell point blank. The shield shuddered, making an ugly screeching noise. But it did not break.
Scowling, Ami jumped back. She needed a strategy. Her eyes wandered around. Suddenly, an idea sparked. She sheathed her Zanpakutō, gaining a confused look from Inoue. Ami raised her hands and chanted part of the kidō spell. She wanted to put more force behind it but did not want to risk Inoue using the opening. She watched the girl through the orange glow of the shield. But she was not aiming at it. Instead, she fired the spell at the ground in front of it. The explosion of energy kicked up a cloud of dust and debris.
Ami dashed into the cloud. She side-stepped the shield before emerging out of the dust to Inoue's left. Zanpakutō drawn once more. The shield now no longer between the two girls, Ami struck with a precise blow. Inoue stumbled backwards as Ami's blade stopped right in front her face. She landed on her butt and the shield finally went down, the hairpins now frantically flying around the girl.
Ami lowered her blade, breathing heavily. She offered Inoue her hand.
"Are you hurt?"
She laughed grabbing her hand and Ami pulled her up.
"I'm fine. This is nothing. I fall all the time."
Ami smiled, sheathing her sword.
"Usagi is also rather clumsy. Can I ask you, what are those hairpins of yours?"
.o0o.
While facing the synchronized assault of Hino and Aino, Ichigo sighed in annoyance getting ready to dodge two blades. But right as he moved out of range, Hino switched her blade to her right hand and shot another spell at him, he adjusted his movement but did not realize that Aino had also changed the trajectory of her blade. He felt the barest hint of steel on his lower arm. But it was enough. When all three of them were staring at each other from a safe distance again, he felt a small trickle of warmth on his hand. He gritted his teeth as he looked at Aino's smug face. She raised her blade and pointed it at him.
"I drew first blood."
"Fine. If you want to play Shinigami, I will play along."
He reached for his Zanpakutō and both girls attacked again. He blocked Hino's blade with his own pushing her away. Her arms shook under the weight. With a spinning motion, he intercepted Aino's sword as well, instead of backing off she tried to kick him from under their blades. He had had enough of this and grabbed her ankle, throwing her to the ground. She landed on her back with an umph. He put his foot on her blade and pointed his own at Hino who had snuck up on him. The point of his Zanpakutō was almost touching her neck. Her eyes went wide but her voice was calm and steady.
"Fine. You win." She slowly put her Zanpakutō away. Ichigo lowered his as well.
Aino stopped trying to push his food of her blade and fell back flat on the ground, breathing heavily all limbs stretched away from her. She hit the floor with her fist.
"Dammit."
Ichigo sheathed his Zanpakutō and took his foot off Aino's blade. He hesitated for a moment before holding his hand out to her. She glared at him but grabbed it. He pulled her up.
"In a real fight you would have been dead."
She hissed at him.
"I know."
She picked up her sword. Hino came up to her and patted her shoulder.
"You did not actually expect us to win, did you?"
She sighed.
"No. It's still frustrating. I thought I'd have a chance at stabbing the bastard."
"Mina…"
Ichigo looked at the two girls.
"You were not completely hopeless." He hated to admit it but he was not petty enough not to. "How come you two work so well together?"
Hino shrugged.
"Wasn't our first fight."
Ichigo frowned. Aino rolled her eyes.
"We did tell you that before."
He thought back to their first encounter.
"I guess you did."
Aino shook her head and stomped off. He watched her with amusement as her frustrated steps created small clouds of dust. Turning his attention to Hino, his amusement disappeared. There was something haunting about her eyes, a depth of experience that belied her appearance. For that brief moment she looked as old as some of the Shinigami he had met in Soul Society.
"Kurosaki. Thank you for sparring with us."
She bowed slightly. He blinked a few times before returning the bow. Despite their differences, he had to acknowledge that they seemed like an alright bunch.
Hino offered him a small smile before turning to follow her friend, her steps heavy. He contemplated the fight and the look in Hino's eyes.
He turned around and saw Urahara who's eyes were following the girls' movements. The look on his face made Ichigo shudder. This guy seemed dead set on figuring out these girls. It seemed like there was more to these wannabe Shinigami than Ichigo had given them credit for. They carried secrets. And Urahara had a way of sniffing out secrets. Reluctantly, he realised that he was curious as well.
.o0o.
"… and then I was holding on to this guy's back while he was sprinting all through Seireitei, left and right, and left again, while Yachiru was giving him all the wrong directions. It was quite fun despite the fact that I was scared of falling of the entire time."
Orihime and Usagi laughed.
In typical Usagi fashion, it didn't even take five minutes for her to be on first name basis with the three teens they had sparred against—or rather two of them: Orihime and Sado (whom Kurosaki keeps calling Chad so Usagi had switched to Chad too). She was admittedly a bit scared of Kurosaki, sitting as far away from him as possible in the crowded room, Orihime on her left and Minako on her right. The latter kept shooting the occasional glare at Kurosaki. Rei was eating her dinner quietly, letting the training play again in her mind. Ami had abandoned her plate and was typing on her small computer. Makoto had been trying to get a conversation out of Chad but gave up eventually and joined Usagi's and Orihime's conversation.
"So, wait. He just kept running in circles? Didn't you say that this Seireitei place is where they Shinigami live? How can he get lost in his own home?"
Orihime nodded enthusiastically.
"Yes! And he didn't even noticed until we passed the same tower three times!"
"That sounds like something I'd do," Usagi laughed, scratching the back of her head.
"You did do something like that," Minako said, nudging her friend with her elbow. "Remember that time we got lost on our shopping trip in Shinjuku?"
"Oh, come on! That wasn't my fault, "Usagi protested, puffing her cheeks. "Shinjuku station is a mess! Everything looks the same and I swear the exits change every time I go there."
"You two getting lost? Shocking," Rei muttered, tone dry as she took another bite of her food.
Minako and Usagi gave her a hurt look.
"Reiii…"
Rei just shrugged. The girls laughed.
.o0o.
After everyone was done eating, Ami finally put her computer away.
"Kurosaki, may I ask you something?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"Why does your Zanpakutō look the way it does?"
The other girls turned their attention to the guy as well.
"The blade is bigger, the bigger your Spirit Pressure."
Ami looked at him, tapping on the low table with one finger.
"That explains part of it but not why it is shaped like…" she side-eyed Minako. "… an oversized kitchen knife."
The sliding door opened abruptly, revealing Urahara. Usagi, Minako and Orihime jumped at the sudden noise.
"Now, now Ichigo. You are oversimplifying things! High ranking Shinigami don't have oversized kitchen knife blades."
"Would everybody stop calling my Zanpakutō an oversized kitchen knife…"
Urahara ignored him.
"While it is true that size can change depending on Reiatsu levels, the blades are usually condensed in a smaller form for the sake of convenience."
"Okay. But that still doesn't explain the shape." Ami actually managed to seem annoyed despite her expression and voice being perfectly polite and curious. "Wouldn't his blade look like a regular Katana but bigger?"
Urahara sighed.
"I guess I would have told you eventually, might as well do it now. Zanpakutō are, as you know, no regular blades. They are you. Another part of your soul. They have their own innate powers you can release." The girls shared a brief glance as Urahara continued. "The blades you have are sealed. Once released your blades can change, quite drastically sometimes, and your attacks are more powerful. This is called Shikai. You cannot keep that up forever though. Once your fight is over or you run out of energy, your Zanpakutō will return to its sealed form. Simple as that."
Makoto frowned.
"And what does that have to do with Kurosaki's kitchen knife?"
"Oh for fuck's sake!"
"His Zanpakutō is always released."
"Why? How?"
Urahara simply shrugged.
"It's the way it is."
Ami took a deep breath.
"Okay. Thank you for the answer."
Rei looked from Kurosaki to Urahara.
"And how does one release their Zanpakutō? Being stronger, even for a limited time, does sound useful."
"You need to learn its name."
"Name?"
"Name."
"Name…"
They waited for further elaborations. And this time, when they didn't come, Ami did roll her eyes ever so slightly.
"And how do we learn our Zanpakutō's name?"
He shrugged.
"Meditation mostly."
"Fantastic…" Makoto mumbled.
Urahara' clapped his hands.
"Now. Time for bed! You will need an early start every day for the next week of training so you are as prepared as possible before going back to Tokyo." He smiled slightly at the girls.
They got up and said goodbye to Orihime and Chad, both of whom didn't really follow the conversation closely, knowing about it already.
Minako stopped in the doorframe, turned around and made one last eye contact with Ichigo and mouthed: "Oversized kitchen knife," before following her friends out the door.